Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

Zhou Xianwu, with tears streaming down his face and a sincere attitude, only wanted to purchase a batch of weapons from the State of Chu to change the current situation of repeated defeats of the Song army.

After the Tianlang Kingdom launched its invasion of the Northern Yan, the Northern Yan royal family had no time to attend to the relationship between the Song and Jin dynasties and began to do everything they could to stop the Tianlang barbarians from invading.

This completely removed the constraints on the Jin state, which openly broke the peace agreement with the Song state and directly dispatched 200,000 troops to launch a full-scale war in the heart of the Song state, showing a strong momentum to annex the Song state in one fell swoop.

When Emperor Huizong of Song learned of the Jin invasion, he was completely at a loss. He ordered his troops to resist the Jin while simultaneously seeking mediation from the Yan state.

However, at this time, Northern Yan was preoccupied with its own problems and was mobilizing all its forces to fight the Tianlang Kingdom to the death. It had no time to care about the conflict between Song and Jin. After saying a few words that were of no help, it left the conflict to fend for itself.

Seeing that he could not get any mediation help from the Northern Yan, Zhao Ji had no choice but to turn to the Jin Dynasty for peace, agreeing to pay an annual tribute of 500,000 taels of silver in exchange for the Jin Dynasty withdrawing its troops.

However, this move further exposed the weakness and vulnerability of the Song Dynasty to the Jin Dynasty, which then demanded that all the garrison troops in the four key northern towns be withdrawn before any peace talks could be considered.

The Four Northern Garrisons were fortified strongholds built by the Song Dynasty for over three hundred years. Stretching over seven hundred miles along the border, they served as an important artificial barrier against invasions from foreign tribes in the Far East, holding a position no less significant than the Great Wall.

The Song army commander naturally opposed handing over the strategically important military town to the Jin state.

However, Zhao Ji was terrified by the Jin soldiers and, disregarding opposition from all sides, sent Grand Commandant Cai Yuanchang and Tong Daofu to negotiate with the Jin army camp on his behalf.

When the two arrived at the Jin camp, they were extremely humble in front of the Jin generals, even less than slaves.

To humiliate the Song envoys, the Jin commander-in-chief ordered the Song Empress Dowager, who had become a military prostitute, to serve them wine and sleep with them, causing the two to lose face and drawing laughter from all over the Jin generals.

Finally, the Song and Jin dynasties signed the "Four Garrisons Agreement," ceding the four northern garrisons to the Jin state. The 120,000 troops of the four garrisons retreated south of Qinghe and were stationed near Bianzhou.

From then on, the last northern barrier of the Song Dynasty completely changed hands, and more than 100,000 li of plains were exposed to the iron cavalry of the Jin army.

From then on, the Jin cavalry could move and assemble from the four garrisons without any restraint, no longer needing to worry about being harassed from the rear.

Just half a month after the agreement was signed between the two countries, the Jin Dynasty unilaterally broke the agreement again and once again led an army of 150,000 southward in winter, heading straight for Bianzhou.

Emperor Huizong had barely enjoyed a few days of peace when he learned of this news, and he was immediately thrown into a panic, jumping up and down in a frenzy.

He hurriedly ordered Cai Yuanchang and Tong Daofu to continue peace talks with the Jin Dynasty, while simultaneously ordering various local armies to march north to defend against the enemy.

He then swore brotherhood with the rare flowers and stones in the Imperial Garden, and renamed one of the stones "Shi Gandang".

Due to disagreements between the pro-war and pro-peace factions in the imperial court, the Song army, despite its large numbers, could not obtain unified command instructions.

As a result, the 300,000 Song troops on the banks of the Mian River did not receive clear instructions from the imperial court for a long time, which led to a surprise attack by 40,000 troops of the Jin Dynasty's right wing army led by Wanyan Zonggan. In one battle, almost the entire army was wiped out, and countless soldiers threw themselves into the Mian River.

This resulted in Zhong Shidao's elite western forces lacking follow-up support when fighting against Wanyan Zongying's troops, leading to an initial victory followed by defeat.

The Song army's defeat was swift and decisive, which directly boosted the morale of the Jin army. Although the soldiers and civilians in the towns along the way fought desperately, they were still unable to stop the Jin troops from advancing deeper into the territory.

The Jin army continued its advance until they reached the Bian River, where spring arrived and the ice on the river melted, at which point they ceased their offensive.

At this time, the Jin army was only separated from Bianzhou, the capital of the Song Dynasty, by a river.

It was only at this point that Zhao Ji finally remembered that he still had the State of Chu as an ally, and hurriedly sent Zhou Xianwu to purchase military supplies.

This has led to the current situation.

Jiang Mengxuan was actually quite resistant to the idea of ​​the Song Kingdom purchasing weapons.

How can a nation's most valuable weapons be given to others so casually?

What if it gets copied?

Minister of War Lü Lin also opposed selling arms to the Song state.

We finally managed to save a large amount of military funds from the old army to equip the remaining three divisions. Why is the Song state getting involved now?

"Your Majesty! Firearms are national treasures of our Great Chu, and must never be traded with other countries."

Moreover, the State of Song has a history of breaking its promises; it has never once fulfilled the conditions it agreed to with the State of Chu, so it is even less likely to grant them such powerful weapons.

Lü Lin's meaning was very simple and clear: he would not sell.

Moreover, the Song state's credibility was indeed questionable; it was resolute in fulfilling its obligations to enemy states, but outwardly compliant yet inwardly defiant to allies.

Take, for example, when Shen Lang first went on an expedition to Luchuan, the Empress requested the Song Kingdom to send an army to accompany him.

As a result, the State of Song agreed without hesitation, but there has been no clear response to the matter of sending reinforcements to accompany them.

There were far too many similar incidents, and the Song state's credibility was completely destroyed through these repeated breaches of trust.

Zhou Xianwu became anxious: "Your Majesty, the State of Song is an ally of the State of Chu. Now that our ally is in trouble, how can the State of Chu sit idly by?"

Lü Lin: "Your Majesty, I believe that since the Song Kingdom is in trouble now, we should send reinforcements to its aid and help it repel the Jin army."

“No!” Zhou Xianwu immediately objected. “Minister Lü, His Majesty only instructed me to purchase military supplies from your country, not to request reinforcements.”

Lü Lin: "Since you don't need reinforcements, I suppose your Great Song Dynasty can defeat the Jin Dynasty on its own, so why bother asking to purchase weapons?"

Zhou Xianwu: "Our friendly nations have just mobilized a large number of troops, so it is really not advisable for them to send more troops now."

"With the military support of the Chu Kingdom, our Great Song Dynasty will surely be able to repel the Jin army. We hope the Chu Kingdom will grant our request."

Jiang Mengxuan finally spoke: "I am not yet mentally prepared for the matter of arms procurement. I must allow myself to consider it carefully."

Zhou Xianwu shouted, "Your Majesty, I beg you, for the sake of our friendly nations, to help the Great Song Dynasty!"

The Song Dynasty is now teetering on the brink of collapse; if it falls, the Chu Kingdom will also bear some responsibility.

"Ha, isn't the Song Dynasty's current state a result of the corruption and incompetence of your court?"

Liu Wu, the Minister of Justice, stepped forward and reprimanded Zhou Xianwu with a blank expression.

"Since the new emperor ascended the throne, he has been indulging in poetry and songs every day, holding more than 120 banquets a year alone. Each banquet costs anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of taels of silver."

If such a large sum of money had been used to reorganize the military, it wouldn't have ended up in this state.

"Furthermore, it is well known that your country's ruler has a great fondness for rare flowers and stones, and has repeatedly sought to purchase them from Southeast Asian countries at great expense."

Furthermore, he bestowed upon Shi the title of concubine and formed a sworn brotherhood with her, which was utterly absurd and laughable. So much wealth was wasted, yet not a single penny was used for governing the country.

"May I ask, Zhou envoy, if your country perishes, what gives you the audacity to claim that my Great Chu is not immune from blame?"

Liu Wu's righteous and stern words showed no mercy to the Song envoy.

Coupled with his upright and unyielding expression, Zhou Xianwu was completely stunned into silence.

Jiang Mengxuan felt a sense of relief upon hearing this.

After reprimanding Zhou Xianwu, Liu Wu turned his gaze to Jiang Mengxuan: "Your Majesty, regarding whether or not to sell arms to the Song Kingdom, I believe it would be best to listen to the opinion of the Duke of Zhenguo."

Jiang Mengxuan shook her head inwardly.

On the issue of whether to sell arms, he and Shen Lang had an unusually large disagreement.

He advocated that national treasures should be kept hidden and not handed over to others.

Shen Lang, on the other hand, was high-profile. Upon hearing that the Song Kingdom wanted to purchase weapons, he, adhering to the principle of "the bigger the funeral, the better," directly stepped onto the table and shouted: "Sell! Why not sell? Let the cannons fire and blast them to smithereens! Let's wait until the bloodshed is a grand spectacle before talking about money."

As a result, when meeting the Song envoy today, Jiang Mengxuan didn't dare let Shen Lang attend; otherwise, given his persuasive skills, he would definitely have closed the arms deal.